India's queer politics isn't about Right vs Left. It's a matter of privilege

The Print

4 hours ago

For queers on the Left, the very idea defies imagination. We love a good Caitlyn Jenner roast and know that Black Republicans exist because we've attempted to enjoy SNL once or twice, but we draw the line at gay Manuvadis. To be fair, the question holds: The white-picket ideals of conservatism don't really align with technicolour queerness. So, why are some queers Right-wing?
In a university hostel room somewhere, a newly minted Left-liberal gay kid has just come across the question and can't quite wrap his head around it.
How can you be queer and Right-wing? That's the hottest political question among the Indian queer community. It isn't whether you will vote for Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi. It is: How can you be queer and vote for the BJP?
The answer is arrived at rather quickly: the Left is nothing if not efficient, at least when it comes to wokeness. As with everything else riddled with problems, the p-word is guilty here, too. When you have caste and class privilege, there are few things to strive for than the right to marry. (Clearly, the feminist movement hasn't managed to truly touch the gays.)
But the vast majority of India's urban, upper caste queers—those who deign to leave the closet, at least—straddle a happy middle.
My ex-best friend, for example, doesn't know his Right from his Left anymore. He grew up loving religion, reading Amish Tripathi books, and placing his hopes for a squeaky-clean India on the BJP. Now, he knows capitalism sucks and industries are killing the earth, but doesn't quite see himself as a Leftist: He's not nearly fond enough of tote bags.
A few months ago, a bike-loving lesbian said she'd vote for the BJP because it might just fix the Delhi roads. But when asked about the larger politics behind that vote, she offered a humble 'I guess I stopped caring about what was happening out there.' To her, all parties are equally bad, but at least the BJP seems to be doing something.
This batch of gays and lesbians has it all. They're politically promiscuous, religiously vague, and free to boo either side as and when required.
Also read: Is there an Indian way to be gay? Most of us learn about queerness from American TV
Being queer in a Trump world
If Right-wing gays and transpersons are a walking contradiction for those on the Left, the latter are far too militant for those on the Right. They're disillusioned with the Left's infighting, its insistence on making labels and language the battleground, and how it has strict rules for how to be queer.
'I am conservative because I think the Left often goes too far with polarising gender issues. India's conservatism is more realistic than the Left,' said a 22-year-old social media executive who identifies as gay.
A Delhi-based gay man who works in his family business thinks that the queer narrative in Indian Left is based on Western ideas.
'The whole pronouns game, where you can identify as anything… There are a lot of other ways we can handle these situations, but we cannot let the Western narrative control the conversation. These things are highly influenced by geopolitics—they've created a business out of it. They don't want to actually do anything,' he said.
They're not entirely wrong about the self-righteousness and militancy of the Left. Even I've been known to run for the hills at the first sight of a janeu.
But is queerness inherently Left?
'If you treat queerness as not just about who you love or sleep with, but rather as a political project, then obviously queerness leans more Left. And I don't think that queerness can ever align right, given its fundamental belief in equal rights,' said Anish Gawande, a national spokesperson for the NCP.
'Again, Right and Left are such vague terminologies in a Trump world,' he added.
Gawande also reminded me that queerness in India is not necessarily a Right/Left issue as it is in the West. Mohan Bhagwat, for instance, has said that queer individuals are human beings. At the Hiroshima G7 summit in 2020, PM Modi talked about having made a new law to secure trans rights. One can see how some queer people might find space for themselves in the Indian Right wing.
It remains a single-plank bridge, though. While the Left seeks to connect the queer struggle with that of caste and religious minorities, the Right sees it as a futile effort.
'If your goal is to cross a river and you stand on two boats instead of staying in one boat, do you think you can cross this river? You'll just fall in the middle,' said the Delhi-based businessman.
India's queer politics isn't about a red pill vs blue pill divide. It plays out in vastly different ways across regions and for communities within the community. Perhaps the question we should be asking isn't 'How can someone be queer and Right-wing', but 'How can a queer political identity emerge in India?' Or better yet, does it need to?
Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)